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Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, left, said he would have preferred to see former Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi, right, join a team in another division instead of taking over the rival San Francisco Giants. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

CARLSBAD — Tied for first place in the Dodgers’ fantasy football league, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his former right-hand man Farhan Zaidi will be competing in the real sports world now.

The San Francisco Giants made the hiring of Zaidi to head their baseball operations official Wednesday afternoon with a press conference at AT&T Park.

“It was certainly less comfortable than it would have been in the other five divisions,” Friedman said of Zaidi’s move to a division rival. “Just organizationally, my own personal philosophy, I think it’s important to let people pursue opportunities that make sense for them and their family. This fell under that umbrella – unfortunately for us.

“It’s obviously a big loss, personally and professionally. But we’ve got a lot of talented guys who will get more opportunity and responsibility. Yeah, I wish it would have been one of the other five divisions.”

Friedman said he did not know if the Dodgers would hire a new general manager to replace Zaidi in the near future. That decision – along with a job description for a new hire – is one of many Friedman said he has yet to “wrap my arms around” with a series of departures from the Dodgers’ front-office and on-field staff following their second consecutive trip to the World Series.

“I’m not sure yet,” he said of replacing Zaidi. “Farhan was strongly deliberating over the weekend up to yesterday. There was so much going on that I didn’t really start to wrap my arms around it. Now I will. But I’m not concerned about the near-term workflow with the guys that we have. There are going to be some guys who are going to step up and do more which is great.”

The Dodgers lost another member of the front office last fall when Alex Anthopoulos left to become the Atlanta Braves’ GM and did not replace him. Friedman mentioned senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes, director of baseball development and scouting Alex Slater and director of player development Brandon Gomes as individuals who will pick up some of Zaidi’s duties, at least in the short term – as well as himself.

The decision not to immediately look to hire a replacement is about “not forcing it,” Friedman said.

“I’m not opposed to it,” he said. “It’s just with everything we have going on, figuring out when it makes sense, who. I just really haven’t had time to wrap my arms around it.”

Brynes is a former GM with the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, but Friedman did not make it sound like he was a candidate to take on a different role than he currently fills in the Dodgers’ front office.

“He’s obviously extremely qualified,” Friedman said. “He’s made a significant impact with our amateur process and with our player development group. Those are two areas that are really highly functioning and performing at high levels and he’s a big part of that. So I’m not sure that makes sense (to change).”

Two members of the Oakland A’s front office are considered candidates to fill the GM role under Zaidi in San Francisco and could become candidates for the Dodgers as well – assistant GM/director of player personnel Billy Owens and assistant GM/pro scouting and player personnel Dan Feinstein.

Owens has been in the A’s organization for 19 years, including 12 years as director of player personnel which overlapped with Zaidi’s time in the A’s front office. Feinstein also overlapped with Zaidi’s early years with the A’s but also spent one season as coordinator of baseball operations under Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta (2005) and worked under Friedman with the Tampa Bay Rays as director of baseball operations.

Friedman said he tried to “not let my bias get in the way of my advice” while discussing the Giants’ offer with Zaidi the past few days. The Dodgers will miss his “creativity, work ethic, just the ability to connect with people.”

“(Zaidi was) someone who’s obviously made a huge impact for us the past four years,” Friedman said.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.